Essential Utilities Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NYSE:WTRG)

Key Points

• Essential Utilities Inc. announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34, with an annualized yield of 3.3%, to be paid on December 1st to investors of record as of November 12th.
• The company has a payout ratio of 58.3% and is expected to continue covering its dividends, with projected earnings of $2.13 per share next year.
• Equity analysts generally rate the stock positively, with Barclays and UBS both raising their target prices, indicating a moderate buy consensus and an average price target of $45.17.

Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of 0.3426 per share on Monday, December 1st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th.

Essential Utilities has a payout ratio of 58.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Essential Utilities to earn $2.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.0%.

Essential Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WTRG opened at $41.29 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $39.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.71. The company has a market capitalization of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.82. Essential Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $33.18 and a fifty-two week high of $42.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Essential Utilities (NYSE:WTRG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.09. Essential Utilities had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $514.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $462.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Essential Utilities has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.070-2.110 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Utilities will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WTRG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Essential Utilities from $42.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Essential Utilities from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essential Utilities from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Essential Utilities from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Utilities currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $45.17.

Essential Utilities Company Profile

Essential Utilities, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water, wastewater, or natural gas services in the United States. The company operates through Regulated Water and Regulated Natural Gas segments. It offers water services through operating and maintenance contract with municipal authorities and other parties.

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